Questions come up frequently about the Glassic grill shells. In
late 2016 the issue came up again, and that is when I discovered that
there are fragments of info all over the Annex website, but it is not
where anyone (including ME) can get at it. Here is what I have.

Stainless Grill Shell Custom Made --
you can buy one also!

November 2017

Tony, Phaeton # 1452, in Northern
California, is well under way to having a new, custom made shell
for his Phaeton. While not the easiest project, or the cheapest, it
could well end up as the ideal solution to a permanent fix for the
original plastic shells that have been unable to withstand the long life
they have served. Tony (the owner in the next item below)
abandoned the chrome plating option in favor of Stainless Steel,
and has had custom rolling dies madeby a fabricator. He also has bought a sheet of
stainless for the fabricator - one with enough material to cast THREE
grill shells.

progress on the forming of part of the stainless grill shell - click the picture
for larger view.

This shell (as I understand it) will have two parts
that will be welded together and smoothed and buffed to look like one
piece.

Tony is willing to share this project at its cost (in
the area of $1200 per shell) which not only is non-profit, but considers
that the hard workhas already been done in fabricating the
rollers to get the steel bent into the specific shapes needed.

The best economy will come in batches of 3, since the stainless sheet
metal has to be bought by the full sheet.

If you want to discuss Tony's shell, or are
considering buying one from his fabricator with him
you can email him at
tonys661001@yahoo.com

***************************

2017 - A Replicar owner has commissioned a special-made shell, made of
steel and then chrome plated. It sounded expensive, and he had
not yet (Sept, 2017) gotten a price for the project. That got me
thinking again about the 1931 Ford Model A stainless steel grill shell -
and the notion of cutting it down shorter, and possibly re-shaping the
top curve to match the Glassic hood. When I looked for one to buy,
I got a surprise. One was advertised as 30-31, but it looked a little
different than I expected. A search of the web revealed this answer to
the appearance question:

2017 -- The owner of car 675, having heard of
the discussion about shells, presented info on his solution to the
problem. He had left his original shell outside, and it vanished, so he
borrowed one from another owner, made a mold, and fabricated his own
FIBERGLASS shell. While not "chrome-like" in finish, it is
much stronger than the original. Here are pictures of the car and the
shell separately. As of 10/2017, Tom, who built this shell (and
kept the mold) is willing to make more shells - in the area of
$200 plus boxing and shipping costs.

This shell should fit any Ford Based Glassics - what we call
Generation 2 cars - but I am not sure about others. You can
contact Tom at
tomrogan@gmail.com if you want to discuss this radiator shell
solution with him.

Remembering that just because it is on the web, does not mean that it
is true, I looked at some pictures of "real" 1930 and 31 cars. The
article quoted here said that they were interchangeable - meaning, the
same size. The pictures below are Left: the ad I saw for 30-31 -
probably a 1930, and right: a 1931. I also had understood that
only the 1931 shell was made of stainless steel, but now suspect that
1930's were also stainless. Pictures of real1930s do not appear smooth
on the bottom, but the tops are clearly different in appearance. In the
various pictures that I saw, the bottoms are either exactly the same, or
there is a tiny rolled bead on the top of the bottom face (to act as a
small border for the sometimes painted insert. See the right picture
below.

More Model A grill shell info

In April, 2019 Rick, a long-time Model A owner and replicas fan
from New Mexico, shared the following info regarding Model A shells.
This info may be useful in creating a Glassic replacement for the
original fiberglass or plastic shells.

The 1930-31 Ford radiator shells were “taller” than their
1928-29 predecessors. And unlike the nickel-plated steel 28-29
shells, the 1930-31s were made of stainless steel (as were the
headlights, tail lights, cowl lights, etc.

The shells used in 1930 and 1931 were “interchangeable” - i.e.
the radiators were the same. The pickup trucks and heavy
commercials used slightly different shells; some were
black-painted steel; the AA heavy trucks used a larger shell.

Passenger cars. The 1930 shell has a smooth top area and
a blue Ford logo pressed into a hole at the top. The 1931 shell
has an inserted piece at the top painted the same as the lower
body color. The Ford emblem was stainless steel with blue or
black paint in the recesses of the Ford script.

The bottom of the 1930 shell looks like the bottom of the 1931
shell EXCEPT most of the 1931 shells had another removable panel
at the bottom. Both were painted black.

From the Annexmaster: I had thought that I had seen reproduction shells for sale from Model
A and hot rod parts shops, and had also thought that one could buy one
shorter than normal and/or without the radiator cap hole in the top. In
2017 I have not immediately found those products on-line. The
chances of a store-bought shorter shell EXACTLY fitting our needs seems
remote.

***********************************

CUT DOWN STAINLESS
SHELL

10/2017 -- Stacey, car 341 (1st Generation Glassic, with the
International drive train) reminded me of her project, completed some
time ago. See pictures of her car and how the shell looks
HERE

This is what she said about her swap: (You) might want to refresh
your memory and take a look at 341. It's a 1930 (Model A Ford) shell
shortened by 2 (and I think) 1/4 inches. -- The
measurement is from memory, you should verify the AMOUNT of cut-down
needed (It would have been nice if the shell was) a bit
wider, but it does a respectable job .

Car 341's cut down stainless steel shell

Glassic grill shells cannot be replaced by any "off
the shelf" reproduction product. They were uniquely made for
Glassics. By 2016 no clear-cut (no pun intended)
solution has emerged.

The 1931 Model A Ford reproduction grill shells,
made from Stainless Steel, seems to be the leading idea if your plastic
shell is not to be salvaged. Many people have painted the original
shells, others have used reproduction fiberglass 1932 Ford shells (a
different look, preferred by some people).

The 1931 stainless steel shell IS TOO TALL - and at the very least,
needs to be shortened to fit the space (around 4 inches or so).
The measurement is from memory, you should verify the AMOUNT of cut-down
needed
There is NOT a clear answer regarding the shape of the top, where the
hood rests on the shell. The contours may not be exactly the same.
I have received comments that it worked ok, and others that said that
the fit was bad. That may have been for different years of Glassics / Replicars. I do not (as of 2016) have a full report
from any owners who completed the project successfully.

The first radiator shells were fiberglass, gel-coated in the mold. Part
of it matched the body color (known as the "frown" and the "smile"
inserts), and a metallic, metal flake finish was used on the rest of the
shell. Then, in the late 60’s the company changed the radiator shells to
plastic. They had wanted to have the chrome look all along, but large
plastic part fabrication was not that sophisticated, and the grill shell
was large, with 7 square feet of surface. Getting a vacuum form for
parts that size did not work well. There was an "under-cut" on the
grill, so Glassic built their own machinery (oven, mold, vacuum chamber)
and experimented, developing a technique to make the process work
properly. Once formed, trimming became an issue since, unlike
fiberglass, the plastic would tend to melt. They finally were able to
trim the shells using high-speed routers.

After the molding and trimming problems were solved, they had to get the
shells plated. They found a plater in Georgia, and began experimenting
withthataspect.
It was a long, drawn-out and expensive process. Even after all of the
bugs were worked out, nearly one out of each three grills was not
suitable for use, and had to be thrown away. Before plating, the plastic
was quite flimsy, but after plating it was much stronger, so a rack had
to be built to hold the grill shell in shape until it was plated.
Drilling holes in the finished product also risked damage. Since then,
the processes have likely been improved.

A metal radiator shell had been considered, but would have had to be
custom fabricated from stainless steel, and the cost was prohibitive. At
that time, Model A reproduction parts were either unavailable in
quantity, and/or excessively expensive. The 1931 Model A stainless steel
grill shell, although similar, is taller than the Replicar required. (It
can, however, be modified to fit if a replacement is necessary).

There had been an objection to the goose hood ornament by the safety
people, suggesting that it was too sharp, so some cars had a ring hood
ornament.

Car 913 - reported in 2008 on the
message board.

One other thing I am
going to try out is replacing the grill shell with a real, stainless,
1931 Model A unit I have had for years. It looks pretty close when I
line the two up side by side, but the top of the Glassic shell is a bit
different. I suspect it would not work if I was using the hood sides,
but I have removed them and just use the top, so I think I may be able
to flex the front of the hood enough to fit. I will take pictures of the
process, and write it up, good or bad. Please be patient.
No "after" report received.Why is some of this in PURPLE?
--
Here is a picture of his shell - apparently he WAS able to get it to
work, but no details available.

Reference pages and items.

Car 982. Scroll down for pic and discussion of the 1929 grill
shell alternative.

This issue came up in June, 2005. An owner liked the look of the 32
grill shellEXAMPLE
PHOTOSand asked for info
on a swap. This is the answer from Joel, the builder, who is pictured
with his car and the earliest Glassic.

I've got a '32 shell on my car - 26" high with the
shortened grill -www.tperformance.com(
pick the topic grill shells along the left side of the screen) Others
have the parts, but the prices are pretty much the same from my
searching... this should help get started... Over the years I have
bought lots of parts from Mickey and have never been disappointed...